Luke Dimech has fulfilled his ambition of pursuing his football career abroad next season. Yesterday, the 30-year-old defender agreed to sign a one-year contract with English League Two side Macclesfield Town.
During the past few weeks, the 30-year-old Dimech was in the UK in a bid to secure a deal with a club after his contract with Malta champions Marsaxlokk had expired at the end of May.
Dimech said the move was not complicated. His agent made the first contacts and Macclesfield soon offered him a contract.
"I'm very pleased to be back in English football," Dimech told The Times.
"After winning the Premier League with Marsaxlokk, my heart was always set on a move to England. Macclesfield are in League Two but they are ambitious and investing heavily in the squad this summer.
"Promotion is their chief target so I hope I can give my contribution to help this club achieve its goal."
For Dimech this will be his second stint in English football.
In August 2003 he joined Mansfield Town where he made 45 appearances, scoring one goal. He then moved to Chester City and totalled 30 matches before being released at the end of season 2005/06.
Last season, Macclesfield just managed to avoid the dreaded drop to the Conference Football after a change in fortunes in the second part of the campaign when former Manchester United and Inter midfielder Paul Ince was at the helm.
Ince, however, is no longer in charge of The Silkmen, as the club is affectionately known. This summer he accepted Milton Keynes Dons' offer and changed club.
Former Manchester City right-back Ian Brightwell has taken over at Macclesfield. He will be assisted by ex-Scotland and Manchester City great Asa Hartford.
"Macclesfield have done a complete overhaul. They signed several players and a new coach is in charge as well," Dimech said.
"No doubt, competition for places will be very fierce and that can only be an incentive for me to work harder and try to convince the coach I deserve a regular place in the team.
"In England, the league season is rather long and all clubs require a squad big enough to cover injuries and suspensions throughout the campaign. The most important thing is that I keep myself in top shape to answer the club's call whenever the manager needs me."
Dimech is the fourth member in Dusan Fitzel's national team who will be playing abroad in 2007/08 after Michael Mifsud (Coventry), Andre Schembri (Eintracht Braunschweig) and Justin Haber (FC Haidari).
Dimech believes that having other players plying their trade abroad is key to boost Malta's chances of continued progress on the international scene.
"That's the only way to do it," he said. "We'll only get better if we have more players abroad. Experience is a necessity as well," Dimech said.
"In Malta our football is a few steps behind when compared to other leagues. In my opinion, the chances to improve one's skills at home are limited.
"The national team has shown signs of improvement lately. My wish is to see more Maltese players moving abroad because that is the only way that things can get going in our country."